Chapter 24
twenty-four
MERRILY
I texted Darius on the way to the hotel, sipping my barely-caffeinated coffee while we went.
Me
I survived knotting without a trip to the hospital
Dare
I had my fingers crossed
Should we throw a party? I can get a cake made in the shape of a demon's dick
Me
Better knot
Dare
Haha
That’s terrible
Me
I know, I couldn’t resist, though
Gray surprised me with a trip to the Honeymoon Hotel, so I'm going to be off the grid for a bit
We're going to turn our phones in so we can't be dragged into work
Dare
You'll have fun
Me
Seems like I always do with him
Any news on the Rae front?
Dare
You need to stop asking me about her
The woman doesn't want me
It's fine
She did want him. She wanted to be friends with him, at least.
I just couldn't tell him that without breaking her trust.
Darius saved me from trying to come up with a response by texting me again.
Dare
I'll update you if there's ever an update, but there won't be
My plan to win my mate's heart will die with me
Me
Who's with you right now?
Dare
Kat and Callum, unfortunately
He was fine, then.
I texted Callum just to make sure.
Me
Dare's getting dark and moody again
Callum
I know
We've got him, enjoy the honeymoon hotel
Me
How do you know about that?
Callum
Grayson asked me to keep an eye on Darius while you're gone
As if I needed a request
If Kat goes into heat, Liv's already planning on taking over Dare duty
Me
Thanks
Callum
Of course
Me
And thanks for meddling, I guess
Callum
I didn't do it for the thanks
Me
I know
Thanks anyway, though
He didn't reply to the message, not that I really expected him to.
I glanced at my mate. He really had handled all of the plans.
"I'm glad we're mates, Gray."
"Me too, Love. Really fucking glad." He squeezed my thigh. "And now, I have you all to myself for a while. You'll be ready to get rid of me by the time our honeymoon is over."
I smiled. "That's not likely."
He flashed me a grin. "Guess time will tell."
The two weeks passed in a blur of swimming, great food, fun vibes, deep conversation, and incredible sex.
A lot of incredible sex.
Grayson finally caught up on sleep for the first time in his immortal life, too.
The whole thing felt like a dream.
Neither of us was ready for it to be over, so we stayed up late the night before we were supposed to go home.
We sat in our room's hot tub together, completely naked.
My legs were draped over his lap, and he massaged my feet slowly while we talked about what our next few years might look like.
With his family hopefully getting out of the penitentiary, and us really getting settled into life together, things were bound to change.
I yawned, cutting myself off in the process, and someone picked that moment to knock on the door. Loudly.
I glanced over.
Grayson did, too.
Both of us frowned.
I opened my mouth to tell him we should ignore whoever was there, but the sound of our door being unlocked with a keycard was quickly followed by that door actually opening.
Grayson dragged me onto his lap, wrapping his arms around my tits and holding my bare back tightly to his chest.
We both relaxed when Darius strode inside. The lights were too dim to make out the expression on his face, but I figured he was just struggling with his magic. The rest of our family had probably started driving him crazy.
"Who let you in?" Grayson grumbled. "We have twelve more hours."
"The pixie at the front desk can be persuaded with a couple hundred bucks and a death threat.
" Dare plopped down on the edge of the hot tub, a few feet away from us.
His usual joggers had been replaced with gray sweats, his shirt was missing (though that wasn't abnormal), and his hair was disheveled.
He was also grinning.
Widely.
He rolled his pants up to his knees and slid his feet in the tub, letting them dangle into the water.
"Are those shadows on your skin?" Grayson asked.
I had to narrow my eyes to make them out, but holy shit, those were shadows dancing on his skin, clinging to him the way Grayson’s clung to me.
"Yup." Dare leaned back on his palms, more relaxed than I'd seen him in a long time.
And still grinning.
"What happened?" I demanded.
His grin widened. "Rae finally decided to make a bargain. You guys were right. She's mine."
"Where is she now?" Grayson asked, his voice straining as he fought to keep his emotions under control.
"Her place, probably. She hadn't realized what we were when she disappeared. I think she'll recognize the mark, though."
"She'll kill you when she does," I said, grimacing. "What did she bargain for?"
"You don't want to know." Darius laughed. "She can try to kill me. I'll have fun watching from her couch, while I force my way into her life."
"Force is the wrong move when it comes to Rae," Grayson warned.
"I'll figure it out. Mind if I crash here tonight? Her shadows are helping a little, but I don't think being alone right now is a good call."
"That's fine. Stay with us." Grayson had to grit the words out.
Darius looked away while we dried off and got dressed.
We ended up sharing our bed with my best friend on the last night of our honeymoon.
I was so happy for him that I didn’t even care.
I laughed hard when I found Grayson and Darius snuggled up together in the morning, the shadows on their skin leaning away from each other so much it looked as if the magic was trying to escape.
I had no idea if Dare's plan was going to work, but I knew he wouldn't give up.
He left me with a hug and a thank you when he ditched us the next morning, and Grayson held my hand tightly as he called Rae on the way home.
She didn’t answer his call.
Or mine.
Grayson groaned. "Fuck, what a mess."
"It's kind of funny though, don't you think?" I asked, biting my lip to hide a smile. "My best friend and your sort-of sister. I'm kind of excited to see them together."
"That's because you're addicted to romance books, Death. Life isn't always quite so perfect."
“That makes it more exciting, though.”
"Yeah, it does.” He squeezed my hand lightly. "I love you. At least we get to deal with this together."
"No kidding." I lifted our interlocked hands to my mouth and kissed his knuckles lightly. “I love you too.” His shadows tickled my face in response, and I smiled.
Maybe it was unhinged of me, but I'd never been so happy in my life.
At least, not until we got back to our apartment, and Grayson showed me to the recently renovated spare room.
It was now full of bookshelves, stocked with romance books that had actual pages I could turn. My favorite couches from my house were there too, nestled between the shelves and in the center of the room.
When I threw my arms around Grayson, my eyes watered just a little bit.
And when he admitted with a grin that we had one more day off work to spend sitting in my library, just so I could read, I didn't even try to stop the happy tears.
If he ever wanted to abduct me again… I'd let him.